PITTSFORD, N.Y — There is much to applaud about a major season that began in
April with 14-year-old Guan Tianlang becoming the youngest competitor at the
Masters and ended Sunday with Jason Dufner and Jim Furyk locked in combat at the
PGA Championship.

If 2013 has demonstrated anything, it is that golf’s populism is in full
swing despite the exclusionary mind-set of many of the people who govern and
guard it. While some persist in believing there is one preferred sex, swing and
career path, the game continues to flaunt its diversity in the form of South
Korea’s Inbee Park, who won three majors this year.

It’s in the fast path to the PGA Tour of the 19-year-old Jordan Spieth of
Dallas, who won an event as a temporary member, and 21-year-old Hideki Matsuyama
of Japan, who in four months has made enough money to earn his playing
privileges for next season.

It’s in the protracted journey of Dufner. A year older than Guan when he
started playing golf, Dufner is an overnight success story that has, in fact,
played out over a decade and included a failed stint on the PGA Tour in 2004
when he made $317,770 in 28 starts.

At 36, Dufner is 15 months younger than Tiger Woods, who has spent the last
five years in unsuccessful pursuit of his 15th major title. Dufner graduated
from Auburn in 1997, Woods’ first full year on the Tour, and with his two-stroke
victory Sunday at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, he served a reminder that
not every major champion has to be a prodigy out of the Woods mold.

As recently as last year, Dufner was routinely described as a journeyman
player. He won his first two PGA Tour events in 2012, beating Ernie Els in a
playoff in New Orleans and coming back three weeks later to win the Byron Nelson
Championship in Las Colinas.

Dufner is the 18th player to win a major in the last 20 events, dating to
2009, the first full year of Woods’ drought. The only multiple winners in that
time have been Rory McIlroy (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA) and Phil Mickelson (2010
Masters, 2013 British Open), further proof that the game does not discriminate.
McIlroy was 23 at the time of his most recent major championship; Mickelson was
43.

Straddling the two generations is Dufner, the laid-back late bloomer. Until
he put himself in a position to win the PGA Championship two years ago, Dufner
was invisible in plain sight, like most every other citizen golfer in the wide
world of Woods.

Those who are wondering why there are not more repeat winners in the majors
should consider this: In the 20 majors between 1999 and 2003, there was one
repeat winner: Woods, who won seven times.

Two years ago, when Dufner was in his sixth year on the Tour and winless, he
said: “There’s tons and tons of guys that can play golf out here. The networks
and the media maybe focus on bigger names for a reason. That’s who people want
to see. People want to see Tiger Woods, people want to see Phil Mickelson. But
there are other guys that can really, really play golf out here and that are
good that you’ve never heard of.”

Dufner added: “I just think it’s very, very competitive out here. I don’t
think the average golf fan realizes how competitive it is to be on the PGA
Tour.”

The pool of talent is not getting any shallower. The PGA Tour on Monday
announced the hiring of Greg Gilligan as its liaison in China, a newly created
role.

Scott, the Masters champion, said: “I think generally golf is in a great spot
at the moment. With so many guys playing so well, and people getting to know all
these players a little bit, I think it is also what makes it interesting for
everyone.”

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